fools with magic
by fressamour
Summary: After a night of drunkenly using magic, Emma and Ruby soon realize the consequences of playing with fire. But they're not the only ones suffering from their night of idiocy. A certain former Queen also pays the price.
1. chapter one: too much alcohol

Emma's deeply intoxicated with a delicious and yet spicy mix of the assortment of alcoholic beverages in her apartment. After an idiotically placed bet with the wolf, Ruby, she finds herself downing just about any and every cocktail the waitress hands her.

She throws her head back as the last shot Ruby shoves into her trembling sweaty hands tastes more like her feet smell after a long day of walking through puddles and mud than any drink she's ever had the pleasure of tasting

"What the fuck was that?" Emma grimaces, just remembering the foul taste makes her want to throw it back up. "Tastes like as—"

"Something we of the old world called a Loathly Brew." Her friend interrupts with a proud nod. Ruby smiles sympathetically but continues pouring another drink. She pushes it across the counter in front of her friend and waits for the blonde to drink this one too.

"Absolutely disgusting but knocks you off your ass into bed with someone you never thought even had a wild side." The only sober one of the two continues.

Smacking her lips, either to get a more concentrated taste of the brew or to air her mouth out, Emma groans. "Yeah well it was horrible."

"You should have seen your mom when she drank it," Ruby says with a hint of nostalgia. A sense of heaviness and regret aerifies around them but is suddenly gone like a blown out candle. "She would have the birds send really naughty messages to Charming."

Mostly disgusted but mistily digressed with this amount of alcohol in her, Emma giggles in a way that she would deride herself for relentlessly if she were sober. "So she'd drunk-sext him?"

"Oh yeah," Ruby wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. "I'd carry her all the way home, which mind you wasn't an easy task since she was like dead weight, and he'd find us in a spare room passed out. I think deep down Charming might believe your mom and I have hooked up at least once."

"I don't want to hear about that!" Despite leaning across the counter towards the waitress with big green eyes full of fascination and amusement, the drunken Sheriff groans disgustedly. "Hey, do you know any spells?" she asks suddenly.

"Spells?" Ruby echoes, unable to keep up with the blonde's train of thought. "What do you want to know spells for?" She digs into her cheesecake then licks the cream off the spoon with indifference.

"Snow won't teach me any. I asked Blue but she says magic is dangerous," Emma scoffs. "Someone should have told Regina that."

"They did." Ruby frowns. "She just didn't have a choice." With an air of awkwardness, suddenly Ruby grins mischievously. "I do know a few spells however."

Like a fuse launching a rocket, Emma's eyes grow wide with surprise and amusement. Her smile puts the sun to shame. "You do?!"

"I do. But the spell books are at the library." Ruby drops her head in defeat momentarily. Her black and red streaked hair drops over her face as a veil and she looks at the blonde with excusatory eyes. "The library is closed."

"I'm the Sheriff," Emma says standing tall. She looks like her father. Confident. Proud. Attractive. "If I need to use the library then I'll use the library."

Ruby smirks. "Some might consider that abusing your authority."

"Yeah well some didn't take down a dragon and save this damned town from evil so some can shut the hell up." The slur in her speech is well hidden after years of adolescence but it's obvious she's drunk. Otherwise she wouldn't even be suggesting it. "Let's break into it."

"Gold would kill us."

Emma rolls her eyes and waves off the thought with annoyance at the mention of the pawnbroker. "Gold can't do anything unless Belle gives him permission," she's already running into the small living room to retrieve her rainboots. "Come on. It'll be fun."

"You know," the brunette strolls into the living room behind her friend. Though eager and excessively amused, she moves with diligent deliberation that makes Emma groan impatiently. "Usually I'm the one that suggests the illegal stuff."

"Hey I wasn't always a Sheriff." The drunken idiot says as she slips her gummy yellow boot on. She looks down at her visible white socks but she's still proud of herself that she even matches her cotton yellow pullover that fits around her tightly. She quickly pulls the other boot on.

"Emma Swan? A bad girl gone good? Impossible," Ruby mocks with a laugh. "Don't let Henry hear you say that. He'd disown you."

Emma snorts as she ties her the yellow laces. "Come on, servant. Let's go steal some books."

"You know it technically won't be stealing if we just write down that we took them and return—" she's cut off by a drunken harsh "shhhhhh" from the blonde.

Profoundly out of character Emma grabs her yellow raincoat and pulls the waitress out of the apartment not bothering to lock the door. They opt out of taking the yellow bug when Emma momentarily tantrums over wanting to jump in the puddles.

Before both women run down the street laughing at nothing but everything, Ruby grumbles lowly enough that her drunken friend doesn't hear her. "Yeah she's definitely Snow White's kid."

* * *

The rain pouring down on Storybrooke causes a fog in the streets that should be dangerous if Storybrooke weren't the safest place in all of Maine. Ever since the truce between the Charmings and Regina there has been nothing but bad attitudes since the end of the curse.

Thankfully no retaliation or violence.

Though it's obvious Regina doesn't even like walking on the same ground as Emma Swan, she sure treats her a helluva lot better than she treats Emma's parents.

But with joint custody of Henry, Emma's just glad she's not getting those snide, mildly threatening, comments coming her way either.

The drunken blonde runs happily to the other side of the visibly impairing fog and calls for her friend to find her.

"I'm a freaking wolf, Emma. I can find you." Ruby says, with less confidence than she intends to. She knows her attempt at intimidation isn't taken seriously because she hears an uncharacteristic giggle from the other side of the white smoke. She steps in another deep puddle and curses something wicked only loud enough for herself to hear.

"Whoa! Ouch! Son of a bitch, shit!" Emma grunts from the other side.

Ruby crosses over with hesitance before finding her friend sitting on the ground and rubbing her ass. "You okay?" the worry downgrades into pity. She reaches out a hand.

"Yeah," Emma uses the waitress' help. "Didn't see the pole."

The brunette fixes her red beanie before letting out a chuckle. "Can you pick a lock?"

"I can do you one better," she reaches deep into her jacket pocket with concentration. Her tongue sticks out of her mouth and Ruby lets a smile slip. "I got a key. Belle gave it to me just in case something ever happened, you know. Now," she looks at her keys with concentration. "I just gotta figure out which one it is."

There's a variety of different keys for different doors and buildings on the keyring. Ruby frowns in discouragement. "Well this shouldn't take long." She mumbles sarcastically.

But it does. After numerous attempts to help and being shot down by the ever so proud Emma Swan, the waitress finally just pushes her best friend's daughter aside and uses Granny's maxed out credit card from her wallet to slide into the crevice between the threshold and the lock.

With mostly talent and practice, she finally gets the lock to budge and pushes the door open.

Emma gives her an indiscernible look.

"Looks like we're in," the short woman says, choosing to ignore the judging look from the tall blonde. "Follow me." She continues in a hushed whisper and closes the door behind them.

"Do I even want to know how you know how to do that?"

She chuckles sheepishly as she uses the flashlight app on her phone to see down the aisles. "No, you really don't."

"Would I have to arrest you if I knew?"

"You'd have to publicly execute me if you knew."

With that, no one says anything more on the matter. Emma follows Ruby, only stumbling over three times much to her credit, until they reach a recently added section of the library. One Ruby herself had to convince Belle to put up.

There dozens of dusty old books that have been handled far too many times to still be stitched together. She navigates by memory to the ones she's looking for.

"Now what kind of spells are we looking for again?" she asks as she stands on the latter.

"I dunno," the Sheriff shrugs ignorantly. "Protection spells I guess. I definitely would like to know some healing spells. You have no idea how many times I've stubbed my toe in the last week just because Henry refuses to put stuff back where he found it."

Ruby chuckles from high up on the latter. "Why do you think Regina's always so grumpy?"

Emma snorts. "I thought it was because she couldn't get laid."

"Not so much as can't. Just...won't."

"How does someone not want to have sex? I'd kill to have sex again." The blonde says with a hint of sadness in her voice. "It's been way too long."

"Are you telling me you and August? Never at the beginning?"

Nearly bumping Ruby off the latter, Emma keels over dramatically. "Oh dear god. No!"

Catching herself, she throws her friend a warning look but it softens when Emma looks genuinely apologetic. "He seemed to like you a lot. But of course, back then you had your eyes set on someone totally different."

"Yeah. I was tracking Regina." She says like it's not a big deal.

But the way Ruby is smirking suggests it actually is. "Yeah, Regina. Do you always watch someone you're tracking eat?"

"Yeah. It's how I get to know them."

"And staring longingly at them helps you get to know them too?"

Emma scowls at her. "Would you just get the fucking books so we can go?"

Ruby barks a laugh but grabs a few of the books and jumps off the latter. She lands her on feet in the same way a cat would land on all fours.

Emma looks impressed and momentarily terrified of her friend.

They run back to Emma's apartment like they've just stolen something far more taboo.

* * *

Both women peel their rain jackets off as soon as they enter the apartment. Emma crashes on the couch and Ruby goes to the kitchen to gather the most common ingredients they'll need.

"You think we'll get in trouble for this?" Emma asks from the couch suddenly tired.

"What happened to 'I am the Sheriff blah blah blah?'"

The blonde waves her off as she would her nagging mother.

Ruby returns moments later and drops all of the items in her full arms onto the oblong coffee table. "Okay, this is the necessities. You're missing some things so we're gonna have to substitute what we can."

"Will it even work?"

"We'll see." Ruby reaches over the back of the couch to dig into her jacket pocket. She digs into the other one too and pulls out three more books. "Don't get mad but I got a few extra."

"What are these for?" Emma drops the Protective Magic spell books in her hands and grabs one from Ruby.

The Tyros: Satyr Sorcery.

The blonde snorts. "Looks like something from Practical Magic."

"I love that movie," Ruby reprimands, hitting her friend on the shoulder.

"You and every other single twenty-something year old female lonely enough to watch it on Oxygen or Lifetime."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that. Anyways Belle told me the spells actually work. It's from the old world."

"You always believe everything Belle tells you?" Emma mocks in a way she remembers being mocked in elementary for a crush.

Ruby visibly reddens but otherwise ignores the sheriff. "We could create a man from scratch Emma. I don't think you understand the awesomeness of it all."

"Oh I understand. You're interested in sex toys. I'm interested in protecting my son."

"Oh please. You're interested in finding a faster way to work that doesn't involve having to say hello to every damn resident on Main Street in the morning."

Without even looking apologetic, Emma opens the book. "Okay maybe I am."

Ruby smirks proudly.

"I've got another," the waitress says as she opens the old small book in her hands. The bind is sewn together with thick leathery thread. "Merriment and Wizardry." She reads aloud. "Sounds like a really bad straight-to-DVD movie."

"Well let's hope there's a good plot," Emma licks her finger then turns the page.

The first chapter goes through enchantments. Ruby gets the bright idea to try to enchant Emma's gas fireplace to ignite every time she enters the room.

Unfortunately it ends badly with both women stomping out the flames in the carpet.

"Last time I ever let you enchant anything with fire!" Emma rages as she pours water onto the burnt carpet and her sweater. It boils down to a simmer and the steam coming from the fabric nauseates her.

"How was I to know it would try to set you on fire!"

"You probably said it wrong." She drops back onto the couch. "Is there one to heal burns?"

Ruby hands her the healing book without taking her eyes of the personification chapter. "We should totally personify your car. Henry would love that!"

"He's not ten anymore," Emma says patting her arm with a cold wet towel. "Things like that would just annoy him. Everything annoys him these days."

"What abou—"

"I don't want any object of mine to talk to me, Ruby."

"Fine. Grouchy pants."

"More like burned pants." The blonde gestures wildly scorched part of her jeans around the ankles. "Besides I don't want to personify or enchant anything. I just wanna learn how to protect Henry."

The brunette flips a few more pages before stopping on one. "We could take all of the bad out of Regina?"

There's a short silence before Emma's reaching over to Ruby's side of the couch for the book. "No way,"

"Yes way," she surrenders it. "It's right there. In black and white."

"I doubt it." Emma tosses the book back to the other side of the couch and goes back to dabbing her wound. "You can take the Evil Queen out of her castle but you can't take the Evil out of the Queen."

"To deprive one of an unwanted quality repeat the following,"

Emma gives her friend a warning look. "Don't you dare."

"What? I think it'd be fun. That means no more mean lady on Mifflin street. No more jabs at your parents or your past. She wouldn't even know it was us not that she'd care cause she'd be nice."

"You can't just mess with someone like that."

"You think Regina likes being evil?"

Emma gives her a dumbfounded stare. She never really thought of it that way. And that kind of bothers her.

"Probably not." Ruby continues. "We might be helping her. Gold implanted something so dark and twisted inside of her she has no one to help her. No one believes in her not even her only son. This could be good for her."

"I'm not going to mess with her like that." Emma says with finality.

"Fine." Ruby frowns but it doesn't last long because a challenging grin takes its place. "Guess we'll just have to make your vibrators talk." She dashes off to the master bedroom and Emma runs, stumbling and falling, after her.

* * *

Two hours later across the town, Regina Mills is woken from her sleep by her own thrashing and convulsing. Her body, rigid and pained, falls back into her pillows with one final quake before an excruciatingly painful heat quivers through her body like chills.

The pain is unbearable. Like her skin is being ripped from her bones with delicate and thorough precision.

She falls unconscious unable to handle the pain much longer.

* * *

**A/N**: So I got my final DMCA violation notice. One more and they take my internet away. So here I am, posting most of my work because I'm bored and writing is all I've got. Anyways let me know how you're liking this. I plan to post a lot of other stories I'm working on but I tend to abandon them without encouragement.


	2. chapter two: hangovers

The pounding on Gold's door is demandingly relentless as he limps to it in his robe. He tightens it around his waist before opening the door with an impatient grunt.

Regina rushes past him, without permission, then turns on him accusingly jabbing a finger to his chest. "What the _hell_ did you do to me?"

Bored already, Gold covers a yawn. "I don't know what you're talking about, dearie."

She then steps back and smiles predatorily before a purple hue begins to strangle him. "You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about. Undo what you've done!" Her hands are up, one controlling the mist that chokes him and the other controlling the mist pinning him to his apartment door.

"You'd want to stop that, dearie." Gold coughs out. "You are precisely aware of what I'm capable of. Are you sure you want to do this?"

She answers by applying more pressure to his throat.

* * *

There's an incessant thud that annoys her to consciousness. Emma squeezes her eyes closed for a moment before hesitantly letting one fall open. When there isn't an abundance of daylight drowning her bedroom she opens the other eye.

As she sits up, she realizes the thunderous pulse has been in her head the entire time. She groans painfully but is cut off by a movement next to her.

She jumps, yelps even, and falls out of her bed.

"Oh god," she grumbles through clenched teeth before sitting on her knees and blowing her hair out of her face. "What the hell are you doing in my bed?!" She winces at the volume over her own voice.

"You said I couldn't sleep in Henry's room." Ruby rolls over tiredly with her eyes still closed. She's smacking the cotton out of her mouth when Emma notices how bare her torso is.

Covering her bare-breasted chest, she screeches at Ruby. "Why the hell am I naked?!"

"Are we doing this now?" the waitress picks her head off the pillow and eyes Emma indifferently. When the Sheriff gestures furiously to their very odd and very disturbing predicament. "Okay, fine." she rolls out of the bed.

Unsure but intrigued, Emma quickly slides on one of her flannels. She's buttoning the last few buttons over her chest when she emerges from her bedroom to find Ruby already starting the coffee.

The brunette leans on the counter in front of the old coffee maker tiredly. "I really hoped I could sleep in today."

"You can sleep later," Emma rubs her temples as she sits at the bar. "What the hell happened last night?"

"A whole bunch of shit I wouldn't mind taking to my grave."

"We didn't…" The blonde awkwardly gestures between the two of them. "Did we?"

"Have sex or something?" the young wolf smirks wickedly. "No but that's still open—"

Her friend's exaggerated sigh of relief interrupts her and kind of insults her. "Good. So what happened?"

"We snuck into the library. Stole some spell books. Your apartment nearly caught on fire," she gestures to the burned rug and Emma's red arm. "Personified a lot of your stuff. You declared your love for Regina. Ate way too much ice cream, think we gained a few pounds. You—"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait." Emma's bloodshot eyes are wide. "I did what?!"

"Ate a lot of ice cream?"

"Before that."

"Oh," Ruby laughs awkwardly. "Yeah that was weird for me too. You, uh, said you loved her. Which is weird because I don't even think you realized it until last night. Like Granny always says, drunk man never tells any tales. I think your drunk mind was able to analyze your feelings for Regina better than your sober mind could. Drunken Emma was definitely a lot less constricted."

"Constricted by what?" the hungover Sheriff plays along.

"I don't know," Ruby shrugs, moving around the kitchen to give herself something to do. "Ever since the curse broke you've kind of done everything your parents tell you. I get it, I guess. You don't want to scare them off or something so you do what they ask. But it's almost like you believe everything they say and can't form an opinion for yourself."

"Well it's not like they're wrong—"

"That's not for you to decide." She says with silent resignation.

There's something bothering her and Emma sees it she just doesn't understand it. "Your mom isn't right about everything and Charming only goes along with her because he's too doe eyed to think for himself anymore. Anyways, I don't know why you told me about your feelings for Regina. All I see is how much you despise the woman's breath."

Feeling insulted, Emma begins backpedaling. Unsure of how they got here. "I don't despise her."

"You're right. You don't. You just treat her like you do because of your parents."

"She cursed the entire town, Ruby."

"Gold created the curse. He manipulated her entire life into her enacting that damn curse just so he could find his son. Her own mother was a part of it so it's not like she could escape her fate. I mean, yeah I get it, you spent your life separated from your parents but for a damn minute can you just open your eyes and see they sent you here not her? Everyone's so focused on blaming Regina that no one has tried to understand her. I thought you did."

"I do."

Ruby smacks her lips, not believing that for a second. "You don't."

"Okay, so what if I don't. Gold is pretty fucked up and no one likes him but Belle."

Ruby looks a little wounded.

"I'd say that's his punishment."

"Yeah like he cares that a bunch of people that don't have the brains to think for themselves don't like him. He's a force truly evil and we all seem to be going around with our head in the sand. Only poking it out to look at what Regina is planning."

"I think you're just a little biased against Gold."

She tucks that thought in for later because she's intrigued why Emma would think so. "I killed men, Emma. It wasn't by choice but I still did it. I was still dangerous. Do you know why I'm still alive? Because your dad was nice enough to talk a vicious mob down. He convinced them I was of no danger to anyone else in the town. It's like I got Snow White's stamp of approval from her assistant. And everyone believed it. Which they should, as long as I have my hood I'm fine. Everyone is fine. But Snow White branded Regina as evil and she hasn't been able to catch a break since."

"And you feel…"

"Bad for her. I can relate to her. I may not have cursed a town but I killed my own mother and plenty of innocent men. I've killed far more people than her. I mean she'd be a saint compared to me. But Snow still trusts me?"

"Because of your hood."

"My hood isn't all that reliable. I could lose it. Someone could steal it. As long as it's in my posession we're safe but who's to say I won't just get really angry and turn anyway? It's happened before. Everyone trusts me to not kill them because Snow White tells them to. She tells them they should be afraid of Regina Mills and they are. It's just not fair."

Emma swallows all of this with the coffee Ruby hands her. "I'm sorry, Rubes."

The waitress stares down into the brown liquid as it swirls in her mug. "It's okay. Anyway, you probably should-," she's interrupted by a loud knock at the door. Both women look at it instantly.

Emma looks at Ruby first, almost silently asking "do you know who that could be?" but her friend just shakes her head and takes a patient sip of her coffee.

A cloud of smoke stops the blonde before she can get to the door and there stands Gold suddenly in the middle of her living room leaning on his cane. Both Emma and Ruby cover their braless chests with their arms because the idea of wearing a shirt without a bra around Mr. Gold is completely unsettling.

He doesn't seem to notice the bags under her eyes and the stench of alcohol mixed with her morning breath but she still feels rationally uncomfortable with him in her home.

"What are you-,"

"We have a problem, Sheriff." Gold cuts her off impatiently and she glares at him before going back to her kitchen

Emma picks her coffee back up. "And this couldn't-,"

"Regina Mills attacked me in my home an hour ago." He cuts her off again, revealing his bruised neck beneath his yellow scarf.

Emma gives Ruby an "I told you so," look before returning her attention back to Mr. Gold. "Well obviously you're alright. Do you know why she attacked you?"

"She believes I wronged her in some way."

Ruby scoffs from the kitchen. "I'd say."

"_Recently_." He corrects impatiently, shooting a glare at the waitress.

"Okay…" She's not entirely sure what to say or even do about the matter. Gold generally just ignores the law in Storybrooke and usually that's not a problem for her as long as he's not doing anything that harms anyone else.

If anyone wants to do business with Gold, they can handle the consequences without her. And she's made a habit of making that perfectly clear to the residents.

However, Gold and Regina are without a doubt the two most powerful people in Storybrooke. Even the Blue fairy has expressed her worry that if they joined forces, victory for the Charmings is a futile hope.

But she never really said anything about them going against each other.

Emma expects the town being in the middle of whatever war they might potentially have going on could be injurious to everyone not involved.

"Do you want me to arrest her…?" she asks, not entirely sure what he's really coming to her for. She knows Gold well enough to know he wouldn't come to her about something like that. He would have just killed Regina.

"I want you to do whatever possible to keep my grandson's adoptive mother away from me before I do something we all might not regret." He's gone in a puff of smoke and Emma groans. She hates it when Regina does that too.

But the threat echoes in her head and she looks at Ruby.

The brunette seems to be just as annoyed as her. "You wanna tell me again that Regina's just misunderstood?"

Ruby shrugs impassively. It's obvious she doesn't hold any sympathy for Gold. "I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for it. He probably _did_ do something to provoke her and he's just using you to distract her or something."

Her friend _does_ have a point, Emma thinks as she goes to her bedroom to change. But as the sheriff she can't technically ignore his request. And mostly she's doing it because as long as Regina _is_ in her custody, Gold hopefully won't be able to retaliate.

That's assuming Regina will go willingly.

* * *

When Emma knocks on the Mayoral Mansion's door it groans quietly as it's pushed open by her knuckles.

"Regina?" the sheriff calls out before pushing the door open completely, revealing a disturbing view of the completely destroyed foyer. If she didn't know any better, she would think the apocalypse had already started at Regina's house.

"Regina?" she calls out again before stepping into the house diffidently with her fingers on her gun. "It's Emma." She says, though she's not entirely certain that would help her. In fact, she's probably just put herself in more danger if Regina's going on a warpath and trying to kill people that have wronged her.

She pulls her gun out of the holster and keeps it pointed at the floor for now. "Regina? Are you here?"

A heavy thud comes from up the stairs then a door slams soon after. The noise echoes across the manse.

Emma takes measured steps up the stairs, one by one and counting to ten in her head. "Regina is that you?"

When she reaches the top of the stairs, there's a circular manor hall with a series of different doors. The walls are spotted but burn marks from what she can only assume are fireballs. The shapes correspond with the ones Regina is preferential to.

Small enough to fit in her palm but thrown with a force truly detrimental.

"I know you're here." She informs to the empty space because she knows Regina is standing behind one of those burned doors.

Suddenly one of them opens and the former Mayor is standing with a ball of green fire in her hand. "Miss Swan?" she sounds surprised and looks even more relieved as she emerges from what seems to be Henry's bedroom.

But Emma's eyes are trained on the threat in her hand.

Regina notices and it disappears. She wipes the residue off on her nightgown. "What are you doing here?" she asks in a tone that's not at all angry. In fact, she sounds genuinely curious and surprised.

The sheriff holsters her gun. "I'll answer that as soon as you tell me what the hell happened here?" she gestures to the burned marks on the usually eggshell walls.

The former mayor suddenly feels indecently exposed to the other woman so she sprints across the hall to the room that appears to be hers. "I'm handling it." She informs once she hears Emma's loud footsteps behind her.

Emma feels completely out of her depth now that she's standing in Regina's bedroom. She came here to arrest her, not see her almost naked and stand in the most intimate room of the house. "Handling what? Gold?"

"Gold?" Regina looks at her as she pulls a blue knit sweater over her head.

Her bedroom looks as regal as every other room in the house. However it looks more homely than everywhere else considering it's the only room in the house that isn't destroyed or looks pristine. The bed looks like it's been slept in and some of the drawers of her dresser are still open with clothing hanging out of them like fabric tongues.

"You attacked him this morning."

"That's where she went?" Regina says, mostly to herself. "I mean…I did no such thing."

"Uh," Emma's not sure if she's buying the innocent routine. "He says you did and he's got bruises all over his neck. He was nice enough to let me handle it."

Brunette eyes glance to the sheriff's handcuffs. "You've come here to arrest me." It's not a question, it's a statement. She looks at Emma like suddenly she's an inconvenience.

The blonde gives her a benevolent nod. "Just until we sort this out. I'm hoping I don't have to handcuff you, actually."

Regina looks thoughtful then shimmies into a tight black skirt. She brushes her hair back with her hands. "If I'm cooperative can we go somewhere else first?"

Instinctively part of her wants to say no because she doesn't exactly trust Regina. But also because the station is almost like a sanctuary for magic. Thanks to a few spoken words from Blue and a well hidden charm by Emma, no one in town can use magic at the station.

That's what makes it safe for Regina. Gold's a small skinny man so without his magic he's not very intimidating. It's the safest place she can think of to keep Regina away from the Dark One's retribution.

And honestly she wants to get there as soon as possible before he changes his mind.

But instead she shoves her hands into her coat pockets resignedly and sighs. "Where do you want to go?"

* * *

Storybrooke Elementary is just an L-shaped building but the playground is adjoins to a field mostly used for sporting events like the high school football games and the middle school baseball games.

However, now that the curse is ended the grass is no longer groomed daily and there's an unpleasant amount of trash littering the field – mostly beer cans from Leroy.

That doesn't stop Henry from playing soccer with Hansel and Gretal and few other kids Emma can't quite name on the spot.

She and Regina both stand far enough away to be undetected but still identify the joy on their son's face as he scores another goal for his team.

They all cheer for him before focusing back on the game.

"Why'd you want to come here?" Emma finally grows tired of shivering from the cold. Not that she's complaining. She rarely gets to see Henry light up with exhilaration anymore. He always looks so determined and stressed like his adoptive mother. He worries a lot.

For her safety. For the town's safety. For Regina, even if he doesn't admit it.

Even though Cora's dead and the lifelong feud between Regina Mills and Snow White is dormant if not over and has been for a couple of months.

It's just always like he's doing a math problem in his head now. He never really smiles anymore. He just looks like he's trying to figure the world out.

When the other woman doesn't answer her, Emma tries another question. "Why'd you attack Gold this morning?"

"I was a very evil woman." Regina responds vaguely and the sheriff isn't even sure it was meant for her ears.

"_Was?_" it slips out of Emma's mouth. She clamps her lips together and hopes she hasn't provoked Regina out of cooperation.

"I'm not that woman anymore," the brunette says matter-of-factly as she finally looks at Emma. It's then that the blonde sees the unshed tears that no doubt were brought to the former queen's eyes by the sight of Henry.

She sniffles then wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. Her face is devoid of make-up for the first time in what Emma can only assume has been twenty-nine years. "I didn't attack Mr. Gold."

"I saw the bruises on his neck, Regina."

"I didn't attack him." She faces Emma fully with her back to Henry. She looks at the sheriff with genuine brown eyes. "The Evil Queen did."

* * *

**A/N**: Response for this story was astounding and totally inspired me to hurry and post the second chapter. Continue your inspiration. :)


	3. chapter three: consequences

Emma's first response is to throw her head back in laughter but instead she manages to stare at Regina gravely, though her lips do twitch once or twice, until the former mayor is staring back at her just as seriously.

"You have got to be kidding me," Emma says mostly to herself as she breaks eye contact with the other woman and slaps her hand against her forehead. "You think I'm that stupid Regina?"

Regina's brows knit together in momentary confusion, unsure how the matter of Miss Swan's intelligence became relevant to the conversation.

"I'm telling the truth." She says with a disturbingly convincing amount of sincerity. There's a distinct amount of vulnerability in her voice that begs Emma to believe her.

"_You_ are the Evil Queen," the sheriff says like she's letting Regina in on a secret. "_You_ attacked Gold."

"I didn't," Regina traverses firmly. "You asked what happened to my house. _She_ did that."

A memory tugs at Emma's attention in the back of her mind. She hears Ruby's voice. _"You think Regina likes being evil?"_ the voice echoes in her head causing her to look at Regina like she might be telling the truth. And in that case, she and Ruby must have done something really freaking stupid last night.

"I'll show you."

"How are-," her words are cut off by an abrupt hammering in her head and she unexpectedly feels like she's about to throw up. She bends with her hands on her knees and notices she's staring at Regina's hardwood floor beneath her feet and not the ground.

"You could have warned me." Emma sends a glare to the former queen.

"Look," Regina says, ignoring the woman's current state and patent irritation, and points to black scorch marks on the walls. "These marks indicate she threw fireballs."

Emma straightens sluggishly, woozily, and breathes evenly to control the nausea. "Seriously, Regina. I'm feeling a little lightheaded here."

Regina exhales impatiently. "Focus, Miss Swan. My defensive magic has changed since the curse has broken. Now I worry about collateral damage. So I use a certain type of fire-,"

"Wow you actually care about the town you cursed?" the sheriff laughs sarcastically, even slightly pleased. It's the least Regina could do. "So there might be a heart in that vast black hole you call your soul?"

A look of hurt crosses the other woman's face but it's gone immediately. Emma doesn't even see it. "Look," Regina pulls down the collar of her shirt and turns until the back of her shoulder is exposed to Emma. There's a first degree burn interposing the remarkably flawless skin.

Emma revises it inquisitively. "You got hit with a fireball?"

Regina nods, ebullient that the other woman gets it now. "This is the residue of that fireball. Hers." She glides a finger along the wall then pulls it away. There's thick translucent goo dripping down her finger.

"And this is mine," Regina conjures a fireball in the palm of her other hand then it fades quickly, leaving a similar substance in her palm but this kind has a luminous emerald hue to it. "See the difference?"

"Okay you've got a burn mark, some scorch marks, some gooey stuff, and you know how to make two different fireballs. That doesn't prove you didn't do this. How do I know that burn isn't from Gold defending himself?"

The brunette nods understandably and looks thoughtful as Emma inspects the substances on her hands. "Why would I go through so much trouble of destroying my home to prove I didn't attack Mr. Gold?"

Emma looks at her like she has a point. Her brows knit together in thoughtful concentration. She wishes she could remember last night more clearly. "Okay, I'm not exactly buying this but I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. So explain to me exactly what happened this morning."

Regina gestures to the living room for them to have a seat.

* * *

_At three in the morning Regina opens her eyes to complete darkness. Not even the streetlights illume her bedroom. She thinks that maybe someone knocking over her trashcans, as they have done a lot recently, is what woke her but when she notices a darker shadow in the corner of her bedroom she sits up in bed immediately._

_"Get up." a voice that is eerily familiar slithers from the darkness._

_Regina's eyes narrow as she tries to see through the dark room to secern the form on the other side of the room. She's out of bed and near the balcony doors now. "Who's there?"_

_"You fool," the woman turns on the bedroom light as she moves across the room to meet the former mayor. _

_Standing across from her is Regina herself. "Are you an illusion?" the Mayor reaches to touch her double's cheek. "I must be asleep…" She says to herself._

_"No you fool! Someone has cursed us! And I say we find this clever practitioner of magic and __**make **__them undo what they've done." She slaps the short-haired woman's hand away from her face. "Enough prodding you idiot! Clearly someone tried to vanquish us! I'll bet it was that rotten little boy you love so very much. He should see us gone from this land."_

_"Henry?" Regina's voice is thornless, full of love for her child, as she says her son's name. "He wouldn't do this to me." Her hand touches her chest and suddenly she remembers her little boy and his smile._

_She remembers him in an unblemished way. The love she holds for him isn't contaminated by rage for his lineage. In fact, she couldn't care less that he's related to Snow White or Emma Swan._

_She just remembers her __**son**__. For the first time in a long time her heart feels weightless. _

_"He's a Charming." The Evil Queen spits the name out with enough venom to make the former Mayor step back. "He'd do whatever welfares him. Just like his mother. And her mother before her."_

_"I will not harm my son." She says firmly. "And neither will you."_

_The Evil Queen looks at her offended and appalled. "I shall do whatever I want! He is my son too!"_

_"You __**will not**__ harm my son." A green ball of flames form in her palm without her notice. Her counterpart notices the threat and easily conjures a fireball of her own. Regina feels the heat in her hand._

_"Perhaps I should do to him what mother did to us." The Queen smirks malefically. "That certainly disciplined us."_

_The memory of all the things her mother did to her to gain obedience from her is enough to send the fireball in Regina's palm hurtling towards the Queen. Her evil double dodges it expertly and aims one back at her._

_The fireball grazes Regina's back as she jumps out of the way and falls to the floor next to her bed. Beneath it she sees the bare feet coming towards her. She uses her magic to transport herself downstairs to her study where there is an arsenal of defensive potions._

_"I know your every move." The Queen irradiates victoriously as Regina digs hastily through the collection of vibrant shielding potions. The evil one throws fireballs around the foyer to distract her._

_ "I know that you're looking for the entrapment spell." The door to the study bursts open suddenly and startles Regina. "But you fool; you forget that we already used it on our own son to keep him here."_

_Behind her, the Queen sends another fireball at her. It destroys the batch of potions she has in the cupboard._

_She holds her counterpart against the cabinet with her hands surrendered. "I will find who did this to us and I will kill them with or without you. And then I will come back and kill you."_

_"I will __**not **__let you touch my son."_

_"I want nothing to do with __**our**__ son." She ripostes loudly and it strikes fear into Regina the same way mother used to when she was a little girl. Being held against her will and shouted at. It brings back afflictive unsolicited memories. _

_The other woman realizes this and a wicked leer consumes her lips. Her eyes blacken frighteningly to a veiled shade of violet as her dark magic devours her. "But I have wanted to deal with the boy for some time. He is not of importance to me…__**for now**__." _

_Regina thrashes against the strength around her wrists in a struggle to get free. "He will never be of importance to you! You will not harm him!"_

_"I will do as I please!" The Queen shouts back in her face. "Do not let our semblance fool you, dear. You are not me. You are pathetic and spineless and fundamentally an insufferable child starved of attention. Mother fooled you easily with promises of love and happiness. You are an idiot for believing she or anyone could ever love someone like you."_

_Regina flinches away from the words._

_The Evil Queen smiles menacingly as her counterpart tries to lean away from her words and her. The weak woman trembles. "You cannot stop me." She promises confidently before slamming the back of Regina's head into the cabinet. The former mayor slides to the floor unconsciously._

_The Queen rolls her eyes as she leaves the study._

* * *

"Uhmm," Emma's staring at her with big wide guilty blue eyes now remembering what Ruby had suggested last night after they returned from the library. "Oh…shit."

Regina looks at her worriedly. "What?"

"Shit, shit, shit." She looks mortified as she stands suddenly and paces the foyer. "Oh holy shit."

"Are you okay, Miss Swan?" the former mayor is pacing with her only not half as quickly. She seems to be a few steps behind the other woman and Emma almost runs into her.

"Forget about me. Your freaking evil twin is out there! Looking for whoever did this to you!"

"Well yes, Miss Swan. But you said yourself she attacked Gold. He must be behind this. He's the only person aside myself with the knowledge to perform such a spell. And even I don't quite understand how he's done it."

"Yeah," Emma gulps. "About that…" She stops and looks at Regina cautiously. "See…Gold didn't do this to you."

Regina's brows shoot up in surprise and curiosity. She was absolutely sure it had to be him.

"Uhmmm….I think _I_ did this to you."

There's a drawn-out soundless pause. "You...?"

The blonde nods contritely.

"You…_idiot!_" She smacks the other woman upside the head.

Emma jumps back. "Ow!" she stretches the word out like it has five syllables. "I thought you were the _nice_ one!"

Regina rolls her eyes. "How could _you_ have done this to me?!" she demands.

"Well me and Ruby-,"

"The _wolf?_"

"_Yes!_ We – ok well_ I_ had a few too many and we found this book-,"

"You cast the spell from a _book?!_ Miss Swan do you not understand performing magic isn't just a game! You could have killed me!"

"I was drunk!"

"That does not excuse your carelessness!"

"Hey I'm pretty sure I was against it at first." She defends poorly. The other woman sobers only slightly and Emma stays far enough away just in case she decides to swing at her again. "I'm really sorry, Regina. I didn't know."

"That's right Miss Swan. You didn't know what you were doing." She agrees bitterly. She adjusts the lapel of her black coat. "Show me the spell."

Emma's brows shoot up. "From the book?"

Regina rubs the tension headache forming between her brows slowly. "Yes, Miss Swan. The spell you most likely incorrectly used to tear part of me from myself. Which I must remind you _wasn't_ a graceful procedure for me."

The sheriff scratches the back of her head and kicks her boot into the floor guiltily. "Again, _really_ sorry."

Regina looks at her like she wants to forgive her and there's the likelihood that she could if she knew how. She doesn't look as irritated as she was a second ago but she still looks upset. It brings Emma back to the accusation Ruby made this morning about her confessing her love for Regina.

It's not at all impossible. Deep down in her she knows she feels something akin to love for Regina. She always just tamped it down under all the hatred she feels for the other woman. It wasn't hard. From the night she came to town Regina has been nothing but a bitch to her. It was easier to focus on those feelings than the irrationally developing feelings she has for the former mayor.

Still, even before the curse broke it was obvious Regina didn't feel one single amicable emotion for Emma, and especially after, and that was all the reasoning she needed to ignore how she felt. After a while her feelings got too easy to ignore and she simply just forgot about them.

But last night and today has stirred those feelings deep within her and she finds it's not as easy to ignore them now. Not when there's a possibility that the woman standing before her has had all of the evil stripped from her.

"Wait," Emma stops as they begin to leave the mansion. "She couldn't get what she wanted out of Gold so how do we know she's not going to go after Henry now?"

"I enchanted his school." Regina admits.

The sheriff realizes why they went there now.

Why she'd been so quiet when she watched Henry play joyously in the field. She was being a mother. She was protecting her son in the only way she knew how. She was placing a spell over the building to keep him safe from herself.

"He's safe as long as he's there." Regina promises. "Which is why I need to find that spell and find a way to undo it as soon as possible. Storybrooke is in a grave amount of danger now. I was able to control my urges when she and I were one. I didn't let the dark lure of revenge and destruction seduce me as it always had because of Henry but she doesn't love Henry the way I do. She loves retribution and demolition. She loves the power of being feared. She will do whatever she wants. Miss Swan, she will _kill_ whoever she wants."

"Shit…" Is all Emma's able to respond as she finally absorbs the severity of their situation.

* * *

**A/N**: Gosh you guys leave such fantastic encouraging reviews. Do keep it up. I always want to reply to them but I feel like I'm being annoying. So forgive me if I don't respond. I promise I want to.

But I want to be clear about a few things; The Evil Queen doesn't love Henry. Maybe she does in her own kind of way. She loves power and she wants to control Henry the way Cora controlled Regina as a child. I'm trying to find an accurate depiction of The Evil Queen's love for Henry. Honestly I think she just loves being evil. There's the whole revenge thing with Daniel but I think that's too easy. OUaT and a lot of other shows can't write a female villain. They always give the woman a reason for being evil instead of just for the sake of loving destroying lives. But I think The Evil Queen loves to be evil. It was Regina that made it about Daniel. Over the chapters I hope I can get it right. Here's the thing, I fear people will think it's unrealistic that she wants to harm Henry. The thing is Regina and The Evil Queen are two separate women. Regina loves Henry. So Regina has been the one to love Henry all this time. Not saying half of Regina has wanted to kill him. I'm saying the half that wanted to control him- the half that lied to him so she could keep her curse together was the Evil Queen. The half that sacrificed her curse and herself for him was Regina. It's hard to distinguish who did what to/for Henry out of love and out of power sometimes. I think Regina has the ability to still be sarcastic and proud and I think she's going to still be that way around everyone else but it's going to be toned down a noticeable amount. But of course she loves Emma (even if she doesn't know it yet) so she's a more patient version of herself because the Evil Queen isn't inside her head telling her to respond rudely or telling her she hates this woman. I hope I've caught you all up to speed on my versions of these characters for this fic. If you have questions feel free to PM me or message me over on tumblr. I'd love to discuss the matter.


	4. chapter four: our attachments

It's as she's unlocking her apartment door that she has a hard time remembering if it was decent enough to have guests over. Ruby's kind of lazy herself so Emma usually doesn't mind having her over when the apartment's less than pristine like Mary Margaret left it.

But Mary Margaret has been gone for a long time and it didn't take long for Emma to realize that Snow isn't exactly like her cursed counterpart.

Especially with Henry around full-time now. She'd usually be able to keep it decent with spending most of her time at the station anyway but now she realizes why Regina always looks so damned pissed if one thing in her house is out of place.

Her eyes sweep the living room quickly before Regina starts pushing her into the warm apartment anyway. It's cold and the former mayor complained about desperately needing a good cup of coffee on the way over.

She's content with the way it looks, aside from the burnt mark on the carpet, so she allows Regina access. "Sorry about the mess," she's not really sorry and it's not that big of a mess but she supposes that's usually what people say when they think their house is clean but knows other people wouldn't agree.

Regina's place is disturbingly organized so she expects some sort of criticism from the woman even if the evil part of her is raging around town somewhere else.

As they get deeper into the apartment Charming exits the bathroom. When he sees Regina his eyes narrow furiously and then he's pressing a strong arm against her throat unexpectedly and she's scratching at it and gasping for air.

Emma hears the sounds of shuffling and cut off intakes of breath behind her and turns immediately. "What the hell!" She's trying to pry her father away from Regina. "David get the hell off of her!"

"What are you doing here?" he demands angrily.

"She's-,"

"I told you I wouldn't hesitate if you came back!"

A coughing Snow exits the same bathroom nursing her bruised neck. "Charming what are you doing?!" She looks just as surprised as her daughter.

"This woman attacked you!"

"Enough!" Emma stomps both her feet in the kind of way that would seem childish but her father goes flying across the room into the coffee table and instantly everyone knows that was her doing.

He lands on the rectangular table in the middle of the living room and it crashes beneath him. Everyone stares at her in surprise but it's not until she follows Regina's eyes that she realizes there's a soft yellow glow around her hands.

"Did…did I do that?" she gulps.

"How did you do that?" Snow croaks from her side.

All sets of eyes slowly shift to Regina and she looks like a deer caught in headlights. Her eyes are innocuously wide and she looks almost worried but the look shifts quickly and she stares back at them all like they should know what's going on, even if she actually doesn't.

"You're the product of true love, of course you have magic." She says with an already sore throat.

"Yeah but before now all I used it for was to see into Pongo's memory. I've never had active power like that…"

Regina thoughtfully nods. "Defense magic is far different from all other magic. Far more aggressive because it's triggered by the body's natural instinct to protect itself or others around you. Let's just be grateful you didn't throw him out the window or worse."

"That doesn't explain what you're doing back here," Charming reproaches as he gets up from the floor. "It'll be you flying out the window or worse if you don't start explaining."

The former mayor opens her mouth but Emma steps between them and answers for her. "Actually I can explain that one. Regina's not the one that was here before."

"I saw her with my own two eyes." Charming rebuttals assertively and she rolls her eyes at him. "She tried to kill your mother, Emma. Whatever she's told you, she's lying."

"Well…first of all what are you even doing in my apartment?" she looks at her mother but dismisses it quickly because it's not important…but she's not exactly letting it go either. "Second of all I've been with her for a pretty good portion of the morning. She hasn't been out of my sight since I woke up this morning. The woman that attacked Snow is The Evil Queen."

David laughs and signs his daughter off as delusional or just plain wrong but Snow inspects Regina curiously.

"There _is_ something different about you," she notes aloud. "Yesterday you would have already killed him, and probably the rest of us, for even touching you."

"Don't think I'm not considering it," Regina rubs her injured neck.

Emma wants to laugh because she knows now that the Evil Queen isn't attached to her; Regina's all bark and no bite.

"This is some sort of trick," Charming pulls his wife out of Regina's reach protectively. "She's fooling you, Emma."

"Do you think I'm stupid David? I know it sounds crazy but it's true," she crosses over to the living room and picks up the book beneath the rubble of broken wood. "Ruby and I stupidly cast a removal spell on Regina last night and it kind of backfired or maybe it didn't. But this isn't the Evil Queen. This is Regina."

"You're…" Snow turns to the queen. "Are you the one that saved me as a girl?" she searches Regina's eyes for sincerity, for truth, for a yes and she hopes, foolishly, that this woman doesn't hate her down to her core.

"Of course not," Regina waves her off, not irritably, and all the hope in Snow's face scatters quickly and shame replaces it with a bright red color in her cheeks. "I'm not that girl anymore. I'll never be. However I _am_ what she might have turned out to be had your father and my mother not forced a certain lifestyle upon me. Had you not told my mother-,"

Snow stops her then. "Alright I get it."

"She's not exactly evil." Emma explains. "But she's not exactly nice either."

That kind of hurts Regina but she doesn't let it show. Not out of pride but because she knows she'll never be considered nice. She was never meant to.

Emma sees the hurt look before Regina hides it and she mouths an apology that her parents miss. "She's not our problem, as you probably already know." She continues to Snow and Charming. "But she's willing to help us…"

Not precisely help _them_, Regina wants to correct, she just wants to save her son.

"How can we trust her?" David asks breathlessly for some reason now and Emma considers it might be from keeping his chest squared with Regina around. God, he's such an idiot sometimes. Snow's at his side now and has forgotten all about her sore throat.

"Because _I_ do," Emma says. "And we've tried things your way when it comes to trusting Regina. We're doing it my way this time."

"But sweetheart," Snow's voice is soft and full of something Emma can't quite isolate. Part of her doesn't even want to try. If it's an emotion she can't recognize right away it'll only cause trouble for her. "The entire town is at risk. _Henry_ is at risk."

"_Henry_ is safe." Regina states. The coffee maker dings and she goes to it.

Emma watches her as her mother continues. "And how do you suppose we get rid of her?"

Regina's digging in the cupboards for coffee mugs. She pulls two white ones out. "I'm just going to undo what your daughter has done."

David's caught his breath and slides into conversation again. "Wouldn't it be easier to just kill her? Get rid of the Evil Queen once and for all?"

The former queen tenses in the kitchen and a look of uncertainty and panic crosses over her. She looks to Emma for help.

"You love her…" the sheriff realizes.

Regina's fingers clench and unclench over coffee pot's handle for a moment. She swallows thickly. "She's been part of me all of my life, of course I care about her."

"Can you guys-," she turns to her family.

"Absolutely,"

"Absolutely not."

Both of her parents respond immediately.

"She cannot be trusted." David continues, glaring at Regina in the kitchen. "Until I've seen both of them side by side I will not believe she's the good one. If there even _is_ a good one."

Emma's had it with her father's insinuations. "She's not evil." She finalizes once and for all.

"Charming…" Snow puts a hand on her husband's chest. "Let's go."

He looks like he wants to defy her but she pushes him softly upstairs to Emma's bedroom and he doesn't protest…much.

Emma looks at Regina sympathetically and for once the other woman doesn't yell at her for it. Instead she scoots the other cup of coffee towards her and they sit silently for a moment as they each take slow sips.

"She has been my only friend for years," Regina explains as she leans her back into the counter by the stove. Her arms are over her chest protectively. She feels vulnerable, Emma realizes. "We weren't distinct in my head. My thoughts were her thoughts. But I lived inside my head for a very long time. Mother never let me have friends so I found comfort in myself. When your mother came along, I thought I could trust her. We were very different in age but she took me out of my comfort zone. We _were_ friends…"

She sips her coffee once more and the hot liquid burns her tongue. She draws out the physical pain to keep herself from feeling the emotional pain of how deep Snow hurt her.

"Then your mother told _my_ mother about Daniel and I never trusted her again. I never trusted anyone again. But she loved me so much still. Even when I asked the servants to keep her away from me. She would find ways to send messages to me. Through the help, through her father, through the birds. She was very persistent…and resourceful. But all I had was myself. I was my only friend. I picked myself up when things were difficult. When getting out of bed seemed like the most exhausting thing I could do."

"I never got to mourn Daniel's death. I was married before he was buried into the ground properly. But she allowed me to feel something other than pain. She showed me that I could be more than upset. I could be angry. I could be strong. I could be so much more than my mother conditioned me to. If it weren't for her I would have eventually forgiven Snow and died an unhappy woman married to her father."

"I know she's an evil woman. And much like my mother, I know she needs to be dealt with." She breathes in slowly. "But I'll be losing myself. And that's all I've had to cope. It unsettles me in ways that I shouldn't be unsettled."

Emma's fingers crawl across the island in a reach for Regina but the other woman doesn't meet her. Instead looks at the sheriff's hand then to the blue eyes washing her with compassion.

"I understand." Emma promises in a low voice.

Regina's brown eyes fall to the floor. "If we kill her we may be killing me. And I'm not as heroic as you and your family, Miss Swan. I want to live. The only person that knows enough about this may try to kill me the moment he sees me. The closest we'll get to vanquishing the Evil Queen is by putting her back into my body. It's not ideal or perfect but I kept her from attacking your mother."

Emma licks the coffee off her lips. "No."

The brunette looks at her interestedly. "No?"

The blonde nods once. "No. She's not going back inside of you, Regina. You were miserable with her. You don't need her. Some friends you just gotta let go."

"But-,"

"The Evil Queen doesn't love you like you love her. She thinks you're weak and she'd probably kill you instantly if you got in the way of her destruction. We'll find a way to save you but we're killing her."

"_I_ can handle her Miss Swan."

"_You_ don't have to do this on your own." Emma looks at her with pleading eyes. "You're not alone anymore, Regina."

The weight, the sincerity, of her words silences both of them abruptly. Regina, dreadfully, wants to believe that she doesn't have to be alone anymore. But she's had that hope, that idea, taken away from her. The moment Daniel was killed, she lost the hope that she could count on anyone but herself.

"She's finally out of your head," Emma continues, motivation for Regina to believe her, to agree with her, interlacing with her words. "Maybe you should get out of your head too."

Then suddenly Emma's not sitting across from her anymore. When Regina looks up there's a cloud of dark purple smoke quickly evaporating in the area she was just in.

"Miss Swan?"

Emma doesn't answer.

Instantly Regina knows, the Evil Queen has her now.

* * *

**A/N**: I know I set dates for the new chapters but some personal stuff has come up so I'm working on the stories people seem to be most interested in. The others will be updated by the end of next week.


	5. chapter five: her determination

"Miss Swan…"

The face Emma is staring at across from her isn't the same one she was just looking at a minute ago. Sure, maybe to everyone else they'd look identical, and even with that similar look of surprise on their faces they look strikingly parallel.

But there's certain darkness, disturbingly so, to this woman's eyes that is filled with an obscure tone of purple to match the rapidly scattering dark orbs around Emma's own body from the magic that was used to transport her.

This woman _looks_ like Regina but she's not her.

Those aren't the chocolate brown eyes Emma finds herself hopelessly drawn to for truth, truth she shouldn't expect to receive from the woman that cursed an entire kingdom but truth she knows she would get nevertheless. Those aren't the painted red lips she wants to kiss until her own lips are numb.

The Evil Queen smirks nefariously at her suddenly, her surprise materializing ominously into a Cheshire grin. "I wanted Regina," she informs from behind the mayor's desk.

The fact that she got Emma instead completely intrigues her.

The Queen says Regina's name as if it's not her own.

"Oh…" Emma's suddenly terrified and she takes a few deliberate steps away to put an innocuous distance between them. "I can go get her if you want."

The Queen chuckles sinisterly. "That will not be necessary. She's coming anyway."

The sheriff swallows thickly as she's completely frightened by this woman. She was less threatening when Regina was able to talk her out of her destructive habits but now she's her own person and she's already attacked two people in town. Emma's not so hopeful about her own chances.

When the Queen stands unexpectedly, Emma nearly falls on her ass in attempt to keep that safe distance between them. She stares at the brunette with wide eyes while the woman just looks magnificently empowered by her fear.

* * *

The Evil Queen's dark magic eclipses Storybrooke from the sun as it materializes and the smoke wraps around the tallest tower in town; Town Hall.

Regina, amongst Emma's parents, stands determined on the ground as she watches the black and purple smoke embrace the building protectively. A glint of her counterpart stands behind a window staring just as unwaveringly back at her.

Both women adopting the same battle stance; fist closed tightly at their sides, square shoulders, and eyes turning an alarming shade of purple; albeit, Regina's eyes assume a lighter glaze of purple as opposed to the Evil Queen's.

At her right side, Snow stands with a crossbow strapped to her back stocked with an illogically astounding amount of endless arrows. She glares viciously at the Queen in the tower as dark clouds swirl above them menacingly and the byproduct of the woman's magic thunders deafeningly, still Snow stands valiant and unstilted; her goal clear: rescue her daughter from the Evil Queen.

And despite Regina's still present detest for the woman she feels slightly better knowing she's fighting with the intrepid Snow White she created after years of hunting her.

On Regina's left side is Snow's idiot husband, Charming who has adopted a more heroic stance than both women. The Queen barely offers him a second glance.

His knightly sword is holstered at his hip as it hangs heavily from his belt. He glares at the woman staring back at all three of them with a square chest and jaw looking more infuriatingly like a cheap Superman impersonator for young children than a hero from a Children's story book.

"What's the plan?" Snow asks from her side when The Queen disappears behind a curtain.

Regina looks focused with her eyes closed and brows furrowed when she responds. "I'll have to distract her."

Charming looks unimpressed by her answer but Snow turns to her former rival eager for details.

"Whatever plan I choose will be soiled. She knows me very well," she explains mostly to Snow. Choosing not to even acknowledge Charming at this point, much like her evil counterpart upstairs. "But I do know that you are clever enough to find a way in as long as I distract her long enough. Gold has enough power to take down her protection spell. If I can manage to, I'm sure between the two of you someone can come up with a forgeable plan to execute."

She doesn't look eager about having to ask Gold for help, especially considering the Queen attacked him this morning, soiling any relationship they might have, but she knows if there's one other practitioner of magic she can trust in this town she's created; it's Gold.

"I would rather work with the Blue Fairy." Charming informs defiantly. "I don't trust Rumpelstiltskin."

"And I don't trust the fairy." Regina replies sharply. "I know you have your team of good guys you go to when you need help but The Blue Fairy is not to be trusted. Especially when my life hangs in the balance. She will take any opportunity to destroy me."

Charming looks blasé. "Well maybe we should let her."

"David!" Snow whacks her husband's arm censurably. "We will _not_ let Regina die." She says it to her husband but Regina isn't deaf to the promise in the other woman's words. She just throws Snow a small grateful look that Charming is too stupid to see.

"How long do you need?" Snow asks her with her back to the building and intrepidity dampening her forehead.

"Give me an hour. Please do _not_ be late." She looks strictly at both of them.

"And just exactly how do you plan on getting in?" Charming looks amusedly curious.

"Our magic is the same. Our body chemistry is the same. She could not keep me out even if she wanted to. However I doubt she actually _does_ want to."

That catches Snow's attention and suddenly she looks worried. "You think this is a trap?"

Regina shrugs simply.

"Then why are you going?"

"Because Miss Swan has nothing to do with this." She responds in the same political tone that "helped" her win her mayoral elections. "This is between the Evil Queen and me. And I need Emma to protect my son should anything happen to me."

Snow looks thoughtfully concerned but remains silent for a moment.

"Go." Regina tells them.

The couple runs away from the building towards Gold's shop near the forest. Regina remains in her spot for a moment more.

"This is for you, Henry." She says quietly to herself, hoping the wind will be able to carry her words to her son. Then the former mayor foolishly walks through the doors of Town Hall and every inch of her feels like she's being stripped of her skin as she perseveres through the protection spell her counterpart entrenched.

She climbs the stairs because there's less of a risk but when she reaches the top floor that holds her office, the lights are dim while there's a bright glow coming from the bottom of her closed office door.

She walks through the corridor with a crippling foreboding feeling that this will not end well for her. Her hand touches the doorknob and she takes a moment to collect herself. Regina knows she's weaker than the Queen. _The Queen_ knows she's weaker.

"I thought you'd never gain the courage," the Queen's voice slithers villainously from her desk with her back facing Regina as she finally enters the room. She turns around suddenly in the chair holding a large red heart in her hand.

Immediately Regina knows it can't be her own heart because theirs is darker than anything Regina's ever seen. Years of killing and torturing innocent people had that effect on hearts.

But when a strong, slim arm snakes around her neck, she knows exactly who it belongs to.

The delightful grin on the Queen's face makes Regina's own black heart sink into her stomach.

It's Emma's.

Her fingernails press into the arm the sheriff uses to strangle her.

"Emma's misplaced bravery was very resilient when I told her I would take her heart from her." Her perfectly manicured fingers thrum against the throbbing heart when she stands. She walks around the desk but perches herself on the other side with one leg intoxicatingly crossed over the other.

"Apparently _mother_ has tried the same thing," she informs as she inspects the heart's darkest secrets impassively. "But it didn't work. Hmm…"

The Queen's lips purse with disappointment at not being able to access anything deeper now Regina has arrived.

"Let her go." Regina demands despite slowly losing oxygen.

The smile on the Queen's disturbingly smug smile falls precipitously. "Do you _really_ think you can distract me long enough for the two idiots to seek the help Rumpelstiltskin?" she barks the question at her counterpart.

Regina only closes her eyes as Emma's grip tightens.

The smile blooms once more. "Do you want to know _why_ Cora couldn't take her heart?" she says their mother's name like Cora was simultaneously her greatest enemy and yet her most loyal ally. "Because Emma doesn't love our _mother_." She chuckles darkly at the secret she's about to reveal.

"She loves _us_."

* * *

**A/N**: I know some of you really love the story and my other stories but please refrain from harassing me just so I'll update my fics sooner. It not only makes me NOT want to do just that but angers me immensely and I get spiteful. I already posted on tumblr that I was going to take a break from writing my fics so that I could TRY to keep my writing fresh. Anyways sorry to those who were patient and this chapter is for you.

Remember to leave a review on your way out.


	6. chapter six: unspeakable memories

**A/N**: Ok, I'm not sure if this is still technically considered Teen but considering it takes a rather violent and graphic turn immediately with mentions of child abuse and loosely mentions rape (if you can put two and two together) I'm changing the rating just to be safe. If you fear you will be triggered, please please _please_ do not read this chapter.

None of us are sure what Cora did to Regina as a child but she used some sort of abuse to manipulate her daughter. Considering Cora has never really loved Regina just loved the power she had over her, I'm stepping away from the fanon that Cora has always loved her daughter deep down.

The show must go on…

* * *

"Why?" a little girl asks her mother with fear carved into her adolescent features, forever scarring her.

"Why what?" a mother, hand raised formidably as if she's ready to strike more fear into the already frightened little girl. "_Why what? Speak!_"

The girl, no more than six, shakes in the cold of her mother's shadow, eclipsed from the only source of warmth her room provides, as her knees ache on the hard floor beneath her.

For a moment she sees the flash of hate in her mother's eyes and then she doesn't see her mother at all anymore. Just…an evil woman.

"Why do you hurt me?!" she screams.

"Because I am the only one that will ever love you and you defy me!" Her mother screams back, surpassing her child's volume and reaching one that summons footsteps outside the girl's bedroom door.

A hard knock sounds then the door opens and a melancholic voice stops the hand about to strike the young girl. "Cora…"

xxx

Pain in her back, icy and yet hot and it stings variously like tiny droplets of acid being sprinkled on her skin. Again, the pain restrengthens and there's a lash in the air. Leather snaps against her back and she bites down on her pillow to keep from calling out.

"Does it not hurt my darling daughter?" her mother asks mockingly.

"No…"

"No _what?_" the whip cracks against her skin once more.

She grunts and her fingernails dig painfully into her palms. "No _Ma'am_."

"Will you be seeing that pitiable boy again?"

"No…" she's breathless and sleepy but the whipping stops and she feels relieved for only a second until she senses her mother raise her hand. "No Ma'am."

The woman drops the whip and it falls heavily beside her bed, landing with a cruel and taunting thud. She sits next to her daughter and runs her fingers through her long hair in a disturbingly comforting manner.

Immediately, the young girl relaxes into her mother's tender touch against her better judgment.

"Only I love you, my love. He would have only used you."

xxx

A hand tight around her throat, her hands bound behind her back, and her knees aching from the broken shards of glass digging into her skin; she finally speaks. "I…I'm sorry, mother."

"For _what?_" An unloving voice, hidden by the dark, demands.

A sob threatens to break throughout the darkness and almost shatters around her. But it doesn't.

She feels alone, and she hopes she's alone, but she still feels her mother's hand around her throat. She knows she's not alone. She'll never escape her mother. Not even in death. "Leaving."

Satisfied for now, the mother's voice changes and her grip slackens. Her daughter inhales sharply at the suddenly granted access to air once more. "Don't you ever leave me again. Please?" she pleads, innocence unnervingly color her words. "I…I love you. What have I done to deserve such an unworthy daughter?"

"I won't leave mother. I'll do whatever you need." She reaches for her mother but her hands are bound magically and she's slammed against the wall painfully as a consequence of moving against the bounding. She cries out.

A wicked sneer overtakes the mother's face and she whisper in her daughter's ear. "Do you remember the King of Gryvnor?"

A weak nod is her only response.

"He wants you, my love."

xxx

"You are worthless!" Pain. She feels it everywhere and nowhere all at once. First it's like a flash, like lightning in the sky…bright, and then it's gone in that same instant and she thinks she may have just imagined it. Maybe….she hopes….maybe her mother loves her enough not to hurt her.

She doesn't respond. She's learned to stay quiet by now.

"You are a worthless whore!"

Desperately she wants to respond. Beg her mother to understand. It was just a kiss…and he…he _made_ her do it. She was still pure. She could still marry the King. A King. Whatever King that would have her now.

"What is it? Do you not want to see your mother prosper? Do _you_ not want to prosper? You should be a Queen and all you seem to be is…" Her words trail off at her daughter's reluctance to respond and it only infuriates the mother even more.

The pain captivates the girl and her head falls back as she lets out a loud gut-wrenching sob bearing nothing but the emotional pain she feels at disappointing her mother and only wanting her to _love_ her, to _please_ her mother; she then falls weakly to the floor. Lying there with her cheek to the cold surface and praying to the higher powers for everyone and everything in the world to stop.

Her mother pulls her back to her knees and she looks up through the veil her black hair has created over her eyes and sees the red whip…

_No…not the whip._ "Please," she begs, tears spilling instantly in fear, in violent remembrance of the pain that whip once caused her. "Please! No!"

"Get. Up."

"Please!"

Her mother doesn't aim for anything specific she just aims the whip at her. The leather cracks against the back of her neck and skull. Pain resounds through her head and she loses sight for a moment before it readjusts on the patterns on her gown.

Through bleary eyes she hastily tries to crawl across the floor in a seeping escape but something hard, her mother's foot perhaps, presses down on her back and keeps the girl in place.

The girl's pathetic attempt to escape only enrages her mother even more.

"This is why a King could never love you." She whips her daughter again and ignores the disturbing sound that derives from the girl. "You are selfish and contaminated and stupid!" This time the whip draws blood. It tears her gown and the small of her back is exposed. The cold air exacerbates the pain.

She cries out, sobbing when her mother pulls her hair. Head forced back and on her knees now, she squeezes her eyes closed and her hot tears roll with an excruciating slowness down her cheeks.

The mother speaks into her daughter's ear tenderly. "You will never escape me." She promises.

"Daddy!" The girl screams. "Daddy please!"

A devilish laugh, her mother's she thinks, resonates within the walls and the candles flicker.

Daddy doesn't come…

"Daddy!" She screams once more, louder, at the top of her lungs like a screech. She can only see shadows now. She sees the light beneath the door shift but then it disappears. "Daddy…" her voice is soft and broken.

* * *

An arm around her throat, the grip much looser than it was a second ago, Regina's closed eyes clench for a long moment; trying to process the information; find a lie in the words.

"She loves _us_." She hears again in her head.

The words, three simple words formed menacingly to elicit some sort of reaction from her, resound in her mind and bounce around her skull painfully causing a concentrated headache to form everywhere.

Or, she thinks, it might be the lack of oxygen to her brain.

The words echo around her head and she hears a taunting laughter coming from the other woman. It sounds strikingly familiar to the one she's heard from her mother more than a dozen times in her childhood.

"Don't tell me you're surprised," the Evil Queen takes the other woman's continued silence as disbelief. She looks absolutely captivated and tickled by the possibility Regina never even realized it. "My, my. That is _very_ fascinating." Something dark flashes behind her purple eyes as if she's gotten an idea or pieced information together.

"And…you love her as well."

"I…" Regina's words die on her tongue. It's certainly given her something to think about. Years of abuse has conditioned her to believe no one could ever love her. At least…no one but her mother. But now, she knows what her mother has felt for her has been nothing but power and control.

It wasn't until the last seconds she held her dying mother in her arms that she finally witnessed, that her mother finally felt, a mother's love for her daughter.

But still…Miss Swan of all people? Surely, she believes, fate can do better than that. How could it give her the loving Daniel then Emma? He was so patient and kind with her. He believed her without a second thought of doubt. All the while, Emma's never had a moment of _not_ doubting Regina.

Though…that has something to do with Regina more than it does Emma. She's conditioned the woman to doubting everything she says and every movement she makes. She's a threat to these people, even when disarmed, she should expect anything else.

Which is why she never expected _Emma_ to love her.

There was a time, once before the curse had broken, Regina remembers the soft, lingering glances and the way Emma would _let_ her win an argument. She remembers now, the way Emma had immaturely provoked her and teased her just as she had been teased as a child by the boys that liked her.

She thought the woman childish but now…

"What's the matter, Regina?" the Queen is front of her now and the Mayor can't remember how or when that happened she just knows she's crammed between Emma and her evil counterpart.

"D-do you love her?" she asks only to have something to say. She has no real interest in how her other half feels for Emma, she just needs to buy time without appearing to.

The Queen looks thoughtful but bored with the question. "I…wouldn't _mind_ having her loyalty and allegiance." She brushes a strand of hair behind Emma's ear over Regina's shoulder. "And she is rather alluring isn't she? I'm sure you've noticed." She adds with a lecherous smile.

"I haven't." Regina lies but blinks too long and her counterpart catches it.

But she has no interest in what Regina feels for Emma or what Emma feels for her. Only what those feelings could make each of them do for the other. She squeezes the heart in her hand, kept behind her back – away from the other woman's reach.

Emma's hold on Regina loosens completely and she falls to the floor in one loud, painful thud.

Regina turns at the noise and immediately responds by kneeling next to the Sheriff's unconscious body. "What have you done?!" she assesses the other woman for wounds, knowing fully well the cause of the blonde's problems is her removed heart and whatever the Queen is doing to it.

Perched on the desk again, the Evil Queen bites her bottom lip and grins wickedly, immeasurably regaled by the scene, the _woman_, unraveling before her.

Regina's hands are on both sides of Emma's face. "Stay with me." She demands to a body that doesn't hear her. "Fix her! You can do whatever you want to me but please…_please_…" She sounds like the little girl she was before. Begging her mother to make the pain stop.

Like a roll of film expanding behind her eyes, she sees all the times she's witnessed her son's eyes light up to the mere thought of Emma.

And knowing that she has done this in some way, if even by undeservingly being the subject of Emma's love, it makes her heart ache and she knows her son could never look at her the same.

Even if she killed the Evil Queen. Even if she and Emma's corpse even made it out of that godforsaken office…he would know that some part of his mother killed Emma. A woman, with the same memories and experiences and body as Regina, killed Emma.

She casts a preservation spell on the body, desperately hoping it stalls the process long enough for her to retrieve the heart.

"Please…" She looks over her shoulder at the smirking Queen. For all her life, Regina has been the only child. Taking her mother's abuse and blame and her father's guilt. For all of her life she's never once had a real friend besides Daniel. She doesn't remember what the friendship felt like, she just remembers loving him.

But looking at her, looking at the woman taunting her…Regina thinks for a moment she knows what it feels like to have a sister.

And she knows that's the only appropriate way of describing what they truly are to one another.

Sisters.

Forever competing against each other for their mother's approval and now that mother is dead, by the hands of Regina no less, the competition is over and it's about punishment.

The Evil Queen is punishing her.

For what she did to their mother…

* * *

**A/N**: Remember reviews are my bread and butter...for confidence...to write. Or _something_ along those lines. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I am sorry if you feel triggered in some sort of way.


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